“No wonder you bid me keep it for a private moment,” she whispered, looking about hurriedly to make sure no one could see her.
Biting her lip, Emily saw the piece of parchment that had been tucked into the book.
She pulled it out, saw it addressed to her, then read it.
Dearest Emily,
I know how curious you are about the matters of men and women. This is the book my mother gave me the night before my wedding. It is shocking, but you’ll find the book very enlightening and helpful. And judging by the look of Lord Draven, I am quite certain you will have much more use of this than I.
Love always,
Christina
Emily chewed the tip of her finger as she considered Christina’s note. Dear Heaven but her father would fall over dead if he ever knew she possessed such a thing!
She should cast it into the fire and be done with it. That was what a decent lady would do.
Too bad she was a more brazen than that, for in the end her curiosity rose high and she found herself looking to make sure no one was up and then opening the book again.
She tilted the book toward the fire and tried to study the way the man and woman were entwined. From the looks of it, she would say they possessed no bones in order to bend–
“What’s that?”
Emily gasped at the sound of Draven’s voice. She looked up to see him standing above her.
Lord in heaven! She was caught. Terrified and embarrassed, she shut the book.
“‘Tis nothing.”
“Is that what Christina gave you as we left?”
She nodded as she tucked the book up under her arm.
“May I see it?” he asked, reaching for it.
Emily shook her head, then moved it out of his reach.
He frowned at her. “What is the matter with you?”
“Nothing!” She rose to her feet. “Absolutely nothing.”
“Then let me?—"
“Nay, nay. I needs go back to bed.”
And before she could move, he grabbed the book from her hands and opened it wide.
Draven felt the breath leave his body as he stared aghast at the pictures. He hadn’t seen such a book in years. ‘Twas the type of thing knights passed around on campaigns and bragged about doing with women of loose virtue. He’d never thought to see one in the possession of a lady.
Closing his mouth which had fallen open, he looked to Emily to see her face fully flushed as she gazed at the fire.
He didn’t know what to say.
What did one say to a lady after this?
Slowly, he closed the book, handed it back to her, turned and walked away.
Mortified, Emily placed her forehead against the worn leather cover of the book. Could anything be worse?
